1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering apparatus for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, most automobiles have power steering apparatuses. A power steering apparatus is very useful to reduce the required steering power.
On the other hand, the steering apparatus is required to obtain a feedback of an appropriate reaction force in steering. There have been proposed a variety of reaction force control mechanisms. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-78947 discloses a mechanism for controlling a steering reaction force in accordance with the vehicle velocity and road surface condition. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-210024 discloses a mechanism for controlling a steering reaction force based on the vehicle velocity and a deviation between the target value and actual value of a tire steering angle.
However, an appropriate steering reaction force must change depending on the driver. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-210024 also describes that the steering reaction force can be adjusted in accordance with the driver's favor. However, at the present time, such adjustment cannot be done automatically.